Moon of Silver
by rune101
Summary: Zuko's key to a life outside his own boring normality appears as a shaggy runaway dog. With it brings Sokka, a member of the Water nation whose presence may even lead to an even greater discovery which will forever shape the nations. Sokka/Zuko.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Hey, if you've read part, some, or even all (to date) of my Sokka/Zuko fic, the question that's probably on your mind is 'Where the hell did it go?' Okay, so probably not those exact words, but I decided rewrite it completely; to those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, well, that's perfectly fine. Enjoy~

Disclaimer~ I do not own, nor do I claim to own the characters, settings or related/recognizable content herein; I merely own the stories and plots in which I have created.

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**Chapter 1: Wandering Dogs**

Zuko sighed, kicking the side of his bed but missing and landing one in on the metal frame, which by the way had no intention of relenting. "Aghh, oww, owww," he hobbled on one foot before pulling up his leg to assess the damage. There was a dark purple bruise now where there had been none minutes before.

Stupid dog. Appa was his name, right? Well that was what the collar had read. Who named their dog Appa anyways? If anyone asked Zuko, Hairy, Scruffles, or Abominable Dogman would've been better suited to the mutt. The dog was more fur than he was actual dog for crying out loud.

And now the dog that he had rescued out of the kindness of his heart, okay, perhaps his uncle may have guilted him in to doing so a bit, had run off. And now Zuko would be forced, in the rain, cold, and pitch black, to go searching for it. The whole ordeal was simply unreasonable.

Everything was seemingly made worse by the fact that Zuko had work tomorrow. Sure, it wasn't real estate, or some other fancy overpaying job that Zuko didn't envy, he didn't - not at all, but it wasn't like he was flipping burgers or washing cars. He worked at a coffeehouse, but unlike all the other coffee places in the city, it wasn't struggling make ends meet, no - it was more on par with a corporation, though it disguised itself as a welcoming family-owned business through its modest décor. He worked mornings too, serving coffee with a forced smile to grumpy assholes who decided they needed some to keep themselves going, and had chosen to stand in his line rather than Azula's.

Zuko didn't blame anyone though. Azula rubbed him the wrong way too. She could probably make a baby cry without moving a muscle.

"Have you found the dog yet?" Zuko's uncle and caretaker peered through Zuko's half closed door, a cup of steaming green tea in his hand.

"I haven't even left the house yet!" Zuko snapped, lowering his voice after his outburst. "...Sorry."

"Ah, you are stressed Zuko. Here, come into the kitchen with me and I'll pour you a cup of green tea. That'll help, and it's still hot, I made it not too long ago."

Zuko had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Tea - that was his uncle Iroh's solution to every problem imaginable. 'Oh Zuko, your date to senior prom cancelled? Well that is very unfortunate. Would you like some tea?' Or 'Zuko, your stomach hurts? Tea will certainly help.' Or maybe even, 'Zuko why are you so angry? What's this talk of getting into a fight? Would you like some tea, it'll help?' Yeah, it sounded a lot worse when he actually thought about it.

"Well I'm going to take off now," Zuko said, pulling on his coat and slipping his shoes on. He really was going outside now. Very unlike an hour ago when he'd declared he would be leaving in 'a few minutes'. The rain sounded even louder against the window as the wind whipped even harder outside.

"Dumb dog," Zuko muttered, waving bye to Iroh and any chances of himself getting a good night's rest as he slipped his hood on. "Really stupid dumb dog."

Outside the rain poured heavily, easily obscuring Zuko's view. It was hard to see through the rain coming straight down, and that was saying something - he hadn't even left his front porch yet. Walking out of the cover, Zuko's flimsy hoodie was completely soaked in a matter of minutes. He took the familiar path down the street and as he passed he ducked under benches and behind trees to see if the mangy mutt was taking refuge under any of those places.

Much to Zuko's chagrin, Appa was nowhere to be found and the rain still hadn't let up. He had already managed to wander far enough from home as it was. The walk back would be long, cold, and not to mention wet in uncomfortable places. As a last ditch effort, Zuko quickly paced to a park up ahead. He had never ventured this way, and it was always a possibility. He had already come this far. A little extra exploring in unknown territory couldn't hurt too much.

"Appa! Here boy! Appa!" Zuko slowed his pace to a halt as he saw a 'villager boy'. He was always so fascinated by the villagers. He'd heard many stories, many tales of adventure and romance and even bravery of this group of people. These people were the thing of legends - the most interesting one entailing a certain few of the villagers having "powers". Zuko knew, he just knew it was outlandish, probably even stupid to think or even begin to believe so, but he couldn't help but hold on to the stories his uncle Iroh told about them. They were amazing.

Zuko didn't know much about the powers of the village nation people. His uncle had talked mostly of the Fire nation people. Apparently he was a descendant or something like that. Zuko usually tended to tune out when the conversation got a bit too wordy for his liking. But still, these people were amazing and especially didn't lead boring lives unlike him. They didn't have to deal with the monotony of school or work. And how awesome would it be to have powers?

"Who's there?" Zuko snapped out of his longing thoughts when he heard the voice of the villager, who was dressed in a blue outfit of some sort, and saw him approaching. Zuko was about to take off running when the man approached him with a smile on his face. "Hey."

Zuko had to look both ways to make sure the man with tan skin, blue eyes and an odd ponytail in the middle of his head was addressing him. He pointed to himself and mouthed 'me?' to which the villager laughed loudly. "Yeah. You. Err, have you seen Appa? Uhm you see he's like a dog about yaye big - this tall," he lowered his arm to about the level of his shin. "He's a little guy."

Zuko nodded, his heart desperately pounding in his chest. He was face to face with a villager - who probably had powers and it was all so overwhelming. He was beginning to forget his recent distress over the weather. "A-actually I'm looking for him too. I found him a few days ago, his tag said Appa." That explained why the dog collar was really just a piece of leather tied to a circular wooden 'tag' that had the name 'Appa' unneatly inscribed, well, more like unskillfully carved. "But, he kinda'...escaped."

"That damn dog! I am so screwed." Zuko would have laughed at the man's expression but that would've been rude and all. "Well, thanks for your-"

"Sokka! What the heck are you doing?" A girl who was dressed and looked much the same as the blue eyed man stalked out of the tree laden path that led into what looked to be a forest. Two pale blue beads pulled parts of the girl's hair into her adjoining braid. She looked cautiously over to Zuko, taking a defensive position. "Who's he?" She asked with a bite to her tone and her brows began to furrow.

"Well you see Katara he-"

"You know we're not supposed to have contact with outsiders, right?" Katara interrupted with a glare.

"But he's not a threat, look at him." Sokka, Zuko supposed was his name, said defensively. Okay, now Zuko was starting to feel the slightest bit insulted.

"If you haven't found Appa yet - with all the time you've been out here, you minds well head back." Katara gave a look that left no room for further discussion.

"But Aang's gonna' be back in a few days and he's gonna' kill me. Don't you care about your poor older brother?" Sokka whined dramatically.

"Maybe you should've been keeping an eye on him. If you hadn't spent the day napping when you should've been watching Appa, none of this would have happened." Katara crossed her arms. "You only have yourself to blame." With that she turned on her heel, not even looking back because she knew Sokka would follow right behind her.

"Uh hey, thanks-" Sokka froze realizing he didn't even know the pale brunet's name. What struck him most about his appearance though was a dark reddish scar around his left eye. "What's your name?"

"Zuko. It's - my name's Zuko."

"Okay Zuko. I'm Sokka, nice to meet you." Katara had stopped walking and turned, her foot impatiently tapping and her arms crossed. "Well I'll see you around," Sokka said in a loud whisper that wasn't quite loud enough for the brunette woman behind him to hear.

After both were out of sight, Zuko grinned a wide grin and raced back home, hoping that a pot of green tea would have enough caffeine in it to keep his uncle awake. Nevermind the fact that his shift started in four hours; he had questions that needed answering.

Luckily the rain had finally decided to let up but by now Zuko was so used to the feeling of harsh drops hitting his already dripping wet clothes that the lack of rain was what felt odd. Zuko had barely realized that he'd already arrived home, his thoughts were so preoccupied.

Rather than use his key, Zuko decided to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak, and use the annoyingly loud doorbell.

/Di-iiiiing dooooong/ the bell droned. He pressed it again after a few moments of no response. /Di-iiiiing dooooong/ and then he got annoyed and began hitting the button in quick succession. /Di-di-di-di-di-di-di-diiiiiing dooooong./ Still there was no response. Zuko almost forgot that when Iroh slept that man was out like a busted light bulb. Perhaps the apocolypse could wake him, perhaps not.

Zuko fumbled in his pockets for his key and after finding it blew a deep sigh of relief before unlocking the door. As soon as he stepped in he heard it. A bear with a really bad cold. Or Iroh's snoring to be exact. It was hard to tell. If a bear ever waltzed in he'd be hard pressed to identify which sounds belonged to his uncle and which to the bear.

After shedding his wet clothes and throwing them into the laundry basket, Zuko quickly slipped into a red t-shirt and black shorts. He decided against the green tea, Iroh wasn't going to drink it now and he preferred running on fumes to running on caffeine anyways. With only time for an hour of sleep, Zuko set the alarm on his phone to the loudest, most annoying ringtone he had and fell asleep as soon as his head made contact with his pillow.

Sokka sighed as he shifted uncomfortably in his makeshift tent. This was his punishment for "making contact with an outsider". Sure, it wasn't severe - not in the least, but it certainly wasn't paradise, which was what his bed was starting to quickly become.

But he didn't get it at all. Really, he didn't. Anyone not from a village nation was instantaneously dubbed an 'outsider' and apparently everyone viewed outsiders as bad. But Sokka didn't. Outsiders couldn't bend, that was for sure, but they still had the same human form. Their hearts still beated and they felt the same emotions, right? Then, now thinking on about it, he really couldn't understand. He himself couldn't bend. That gift had been bestowed upon his sister - not him.

"Aren't I an outsider too?" Sokka whispered, his head now held in his hands. Zuko, the guy he had met not too long ago had stuck in his mind. He was Sokka's first contact with outside civilization. The brunet did look a bit more advanced, like most stories of outsiders went, but the brutality, the coldness, the harshness, the evil, the endless greed - he didn't see any of that. Those horror stories that made children behave for fear of being taken to such a place, the outside world, seemed completely without merit. This wasn't to say that the outside looked like some sort of incorruptable paradise - that wasn't true either, but it didn't look anywhere near as bad as all the tales and legends told it was. It looked fun, actually.

And he always wondered of things like the technology that outsiders so often found usage in. So far he had mentally compiled a list. Cell phones, TV, and internet being at the top of said list of technologies that he yearned to try. Apparently cell phones allowed people to talk to each other even if they were hundreds of miles away, or so said tales. Sokka doubted that the "tales" were nothing more than true recounts of peoples' experiences in the outside world though.

Sokka meanwhile awoke to the sound of puppies, dogs, and kittens both meowing and barking the national anthem. He groaned and rolled over before proceeding to stare at the ceiling. After about five or so minutes of ceiling watching, it was a morning habit that prepared him for whatever the day held, Zuko sat up on the bed.

He had work now in half an hour. With Azula. He shivered at the thought before jumping in the shower and quickly brushing his hair. He threw on his clothes and ran, yes, ran, to the coffee shop.

Azula smiled, a pen in her hand. "Oh darn. Two minutes more and I could've written you up for being late. I am your manager, 'ya know." Of course he knew. She wouldn't let him forget it for the world.

"Good morning to you too Azula," Zuko said sarcastically.

A customer entered and approached Zuko's line because Azula was busy harassing another customer into getting extra cream, and paying for it too, of course.

The customer in Zuko's line was a regular, though dressed quite irregularly as usual. He had what looked to be a bald head under his dark brown hat - he looked young though, so his head was probably shaven or something like that. He had bright clear blue eyes that always seemed to carry some amount of excitment. And of course his mustache. Which was so obviously fake (and clearly a novelty "stick on" one), that it was rediculous. To top off his look he had a pair of too-large-for-his-face black shades. The look was something akin to a really, really bad undercover detective halloween costume.

"I'll have a carmel frappachino with extra whip cream," he ordered with an easy to distinguish fake accent.

Good lord. Extra anything after the word 'frappachino' was clearly overkill. There was so much sugar in the drink that Zuko prepared that it made his arteries ache - and he wasn't even the one drinking it.

The man took his drink, paid the four dollars and twenty-five cents that he owed, and left, suspiciously looking from left to right as if he were being watched.

As if on cue, a man who had been sitting in the corner with his newspaper stretched out in front of him, covering his face completely, dropped his newspaper, which he had been holding upside down by the way and looked both ways before quickly exiting the coffee shop. The rest of the customers went about their business as if nothing had occured. Zuko simply gaped. Either the district had decided to hire really bad detectives who looked like they learned their trade from low budget 70s detective movies or something fishy was going on here.

"What weirdo', huh?" Azula asked, sipping on a bottle of purified vitamen water.

"Uhm," Zuko could've said 'yes', but that entailed giving a negative or prejudiced opinion of a customer. An infraction that Azula was dying to write up against him. "Not really." Zuko wouldn't do it. He wouldn't bite the bait.

Azula sneered, obviously displeased that he one, didn't agree with her, and two, had not committed the infraction, thus the notepad of reported infractions would go unwritten on for today. "He was though. I mean who buys a newspaper only to read it upside down? What was he, dislexic?"

Out of everything that just happened, that was all she took out of it? Zuko rolled his eyes and had to keep from repeating the action when Azula went over to where the man had been sitting, grabbed the newspaper, refolded it, and stuck it back on the rack of the day's papers to be sold.

Zuko's eyes wandered to the clock after what seemed like a century of indecisive, rushed, or just plain rude customers had come through. It was nearing one and that was when business slowed to a complete halt, of course with a customer dropping by every once in awhile to buy a bagel or muffin. This was when Azula took her break - her unofficial totally infractionary break. Too bad Zuko didn't have the power to write up infractions. But it was fine. It wasn't like it was busy, anyways. And an hour or two without Azula was a Godsend, why ruin that? Sure, calling the woman an ass was the understatement of a lifetime, but at least no one had ever successfully stolen from the shop. Azula was scary, that much could be written in stone.

Zuko tapped his fingers on the counter. Now that he wasn't busy and business was slow he was reminded of the fact that he hadn't had a good night's rest. It was going to be a long shift.

The next customer who came in got Zuko's hopes up. It had been nearly an hour and no one had ordered a coffee. His fingers were itching to use the machine - a task far less monotonous than putting cash and change into the register in exchange for some kind of snack. There was still no sign of Azula, but that was no longer comforting. Things usually weren't this slow. He was almost feeling insane enough to say that he may have actually missed Azula's presence. What crazy thoughts, how-

"Excuse me? Do you know where the nearest wristwatch repair shop is? I just moved here and am not familiar with-" Zuko held up a hand, cutting off the nervous looking businessman's desperate pleas.

"Okay, go down the street cross from there," Zuko pointed to an expensive clothing store, "then cross over and continue straight. There will be a large sign that says wristwatch repair. You can't miss it."

The man thanked Zuko a few times too many before hurriedly heading out. He grinned. It felt nice to do good every once in awhile.

"You should've charged him for those directions - that's what I would've done." Of course that was what Azula would've done.

"I'm not like you," Zuko muttered.

"What was that?" Azula smiled, it was sadistic but that was normal. "Actually you're right. We're definitely not alike. You see, I speak up so my opinions can be heard and actually matter, while you do the polar opposite. Pity." Zuko was pissed. He had to keep reminding himself that Azula was technically a lady, though she didn't act like one, and he didn't hit women.

"Whatever, Azula."

Azula smirked, feeling that she had won another round and decided to lay off a little - for now anyways. "I'm heading home early. See ya' round later." Without awaiting the return of her halfhearted goodbye she left.

Another hour had passed, though it had been unbelievably busy, and the next two cashiers had come to take over for Zuko. It wasn't surprising that neither of the coffee shop workers were shocked or even asked questions about why he was handling fifteen customers by himself. That itself was usual Azula behavior.

Zuko was just happy to be off work though, truthfully. He was tired and hungry. He hadn't even gotten his lunch break because Azula's "break" had lasted for so long.

Instead of going home though, Zuko followed the path to the small park within the forest, the place that he had seen Sokka at.

"Hey."

"Wah!" Zuko made an undignified noise and jumped nearly a foot into the air only to turn around and see Sokka, the tanned boy casually leaning on a tree.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you Zuko." Zuko felt his face flush almost immediately. He had remembered his name.

"It-it's fine, really. Uhm, so are you still looking for Appa? Any luck?"

"Appa...? Yeah, uh Appa. That's why I came down...here. Okay I confess. I may've not come here for that exact reason." Sokka laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "But no. No luck so far."

"I see. Do you need any help?" Zuko offered, hoping that Sokka'd say 'yes'.

"Yeah, I mean sure. I could use all the help I can get."

For about twenty or twenty-five minutes, they were genuinely looking for the dog, but after that span of time they had both unspokenly agreed to give up and ended up sitting on a log. "So, what's your village like?" Zuko asked.

"Well, I'm a part of the Water nation, though only I'm only a part of a small tribe. I don't actually reside in the nation's capitol, where I hear rumors that a princess by the name of name Yue lives. I hear her hair is whiter than snow."

"Wow, that's so cool," Zuko replied animatedly. "Is the Water nation the ruling nation?"

Sokka shook his head. "No. There's also the Fire nation, the Earth nation, and the Wind nation. My sister and a lot of people from my tribe despise the Fire nation though."

Zuko remembered Iroh telling him about being a direct descendant of Fire nation royalty, though he hadn't believed him initially. "And you? What's your take on the Fire nation?"

"Hate them," Zuko's eyes widened but then Sokka gave a small chuckle, "at least I used to, anyways. But I've done a lot of growing up since my parents death at their hands. At the end of the day, revenge won't bring anyone back and I'd rather live my life for myself, 'ya know?" Sokka looked up into a tree and his gaze grew faraway. "Those soldiers - those Fire nation soldiers who attacked my village were only taking orders. They probably held something over their heads too - their job, the safety of their family, maybe even an "accident" that would take the lives of their loved ones. If I were in that position I can't say I would do any different." Sokka's voice grew grave. "Actually, I know I wouldn't have."

"Do you still bear a grudge then?" Zuko was trying to word his questions carefully so as not to reopen old wounds.

Surprising Zuko, Sokka smiled and looked to him, all his attention focused on his features and Zuko felt his face flush with embarrassment. "All is forgiven, but not all is forgotten," Sokka stated.

"I see." Was all Zuko said in turn. He didn't know what else to say. What else could he have said?

"I have a question for you too," Sokka said, breaking the uneasy silence. He didn't quite know how to phrase his it without being rude though. "How'd you get that burn mark?" Sokka gestured to Zuko's left eye.

That was a hard one to answer. In all honesty, Zuko couldn't remember. He remembered a loud booming voice with great authority. His father? But he had never met his father or his mother. He was an orphan in that sense and whenever he tried to bring up the conversation with Iroh, his uncle would avoid it. Zuko tried to pull back his faded memories of the past even harder.

It was loud. There was yelling. No. That wasn't it. Cheering. Yes, there was cheering. And a lot of red. Everyone was dressed in red. He was outside. There was a ring; not an actual ring but a duel ring. Yeah, that felt familiar. And then a flash of something. Something really hot. Something unbearably hot and his face burned. That was it. That was all he could remember. "I-I really can't say," Zuko said finally.

Sokka moved closer, examining the burn scar. It made Zuko feel self conscious.

"It was probably just a burn though," Zuko continued.

"No. I don't think so." Sokka was still looking at his face carefully. "If it were truly a burn-"

"Sokka! What're you doing? You know this is your second offense interacting with an outsider!" Katara was pissed. How could her brother so blantantly ignore the village's rules? Rules were set forth to protect everyone and here he was, disregarding them left and right.

"I gotta' go," Zuko said, using the opportunity to slip away.

Sokka watched as Zuko quickly retreated and yelled, without care that his sister would hear, "I'll see you around!"

"'Kay!" Zuko yelled back without turning around.

Katara rolled her eyes, Sokka just wasn't listening to her and she was tired of wasting her breath. "C'mon, lets go," she said exasperatedly. With that she turned and began the familiar path through the thick woods to the shine that lay ahead. Katara moved her hands gracefully, bending a single drop of the water from a nearby koi pond into the limestone, bowl shaped pillar beside them.

After a moment, the double doors to the shrine glowed an etheral blue and Katara reached for the left door, opening it and walking through. Sokka crossed his arms defiantly but walked through behind her as well. After he had walked in the door shut and sealed and when Sokka looked up, they were in the Water tribe's shrine, no longer in the outside world - no longer in Japan.

Katara walked out of the shrine and walked the path back to their village. Sokka on the otherhand didn't even attempt to follow directly. He stopped after exiting the sacred shrine and waited for the long "talking to" that he knew he had coming from their grandmother Kanna, more informally referred to as Gran Gran.

The old woman apprached and Sokka followed, his head held down. It felt lije a walk of shame - everyone was looking, a few younger Water tribesman and girls were giggling, laughing, and discreetly pointing. He felt like a criminal walking his last steps as he was led to his grandmother's tent.

"Gran-"

"Silence Sokka," she interrupted. "Do you understand the severity of your actions?"

"Actually no! No, I don't." Sokka firmly crossed his arms.

The elder woman continued as if Sokka.s outburst had never occured. "Sokka, my grandson." She whacked him on the head quickly. "You are such an idiot. You remind me of your father."

"Oww.." Sokka groaned, rubbing his forehead. "What do you mean?"

"I mean your father had a complete disregard for rules as well. I see you've inherited his vigilance alright." Her voice quieted significantly. "But you've also got his heart - his warrior's spirit."

"So I'm off the hook?" Sokka asked hopefully.

Kanna laughed before patting her grandson on the shoulder. Sokka's facial expression grew even more hopeful, if that were at all possible. "Of course not," and with that, if Sokka were a balloon, he'd have deflated.

"Awhh, c'mon Gran Gran. Can't we work something out?"

"Yes. I suppose we can. Triple duties around the village and no visits to the outside for six months. After that, all will be forgiven."

"What kind of deal is that?" Sokka whined, exiting the tent in a huff.

Kanna smiled. If her grandson were anything like her own son had been, he wouldn't listen. He'd leave anyways. There was a stubborn unrelenting strength about Sokka that reminded her of his father. Whatever the outside world held, it must've been special indeed. She hadn't seen that look of determination since he had gone through his rite of passage.

Zuko twirled a pen in his hand, sitting in his leather swivel chair and leaning his head on his desk while his computer let out a low, barely audible hum.

He sneezed five times in a row, feeling for sure that someone had been talking about him. After all, he wasn't sick and didn't even have allergies. He wasn't all too superstitous, but he had to be to some extent. Especially considering everything about the village nations that he'd come to accept.

Zuko moved to his bed, which he flopped down on and rested his hand over his eyes. He'd be lying to himself if he said that he hadn't meant to see Sokka at the park. He certainly wasn't searching for Appa. But he couldn't account for why he ran away. That was unlike him. He wasn't a coward. But his heart was beating so fast that he thought it might've beated straight out of his chest if he gave it the chance.

Zuko punched his wall, a sudden burst of anger, that seemingly came from no where at all flaring up. 'What if he doesn't want to see me anymore?' He thought.

When Zuko removed his fist from the wall, the wall was scorched slightly. "What the fuck?" He muttered, eyes widening.

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A/N:: Thank you for reading and I would love it if you'd review. This first chapter actually came out to be a bit long, but I definitely had fun with it. I wouldn't call this a replacement exactly for my other Sokka/Zuko fic, so much as a glorified remake. My writing has gotten SO much better, so hopefully I can do these two justice.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I would just like to say thank you to those of you that reviewed the first chapter, if you did, you know who you are but I'd just like to let it be known that I am extremely grateful.

Disclaimer~ I do not own, nor do I claim to own the characters, settings, or recognizable content herein; I merely own the stories and plots in which I have created.

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**Chapter 2: Simply Stuck**

Sokka leaned precariously on his shovel, half falling asleep. A few of his elders had trotted off, saying something along the lines of important business that "had to be discussed". Sokka didn't mind. At least now no one would be available to either witness him sleep standing up or fall flat on his face. He had thought Gran Gran had been kidding when she brought up triple duties. He hardly even did his normal ones let alone three times as much added on.

"Sokka..." There was a guilty pause as Sokka heard rather than saw Katara. "Do you...need any help?"

'Yeah, sure. Tell on me then come and try to make ammends,' Sokka thought, but said, "Sure."

"Okay." Upon opening his eyes, Sokka saw that Katara had already brought a shovel with her. She was already busily thrusting the tool into the snow and shoveling it into the barrel. "I'm sorry," she said, finally turning around to face her brother.

Sokka had thrown his shovel down and crossed his arms. The two of them hadn't spoken for what was approaching three days. It wasn't that Sokka was mad exactly, he just wished that Katara would believe him. She still feared the outside and the Fire nation.

"'Ya know that that legend is probably a bunch of bologne," Sokka stated.

"A bunch of what? Nevermind. Look, we just can't take any chances." Katara's voice shook and she could tell that Sokka took notice.

"But it's not even a legend, really. More like a rumor. Rumor's are usually false and you know that as well as I do," Sokka continued casually.

"Sokka, listen! I didn't come here to argue. I came here to apologize. And rumor or not I'm not taking any chances. You can't tell if he's Fire nation or not. They're conniving."

Sokka was about to raise an objection but before he could, Katara ran off, her eyes brimming with tears. He felt bad - really and truly. But it didn't change his opinion, nor his anger at her unwarranted accusations.

The whole rumor had it that Ozai, Fire Lord of the Fire nation, had a son. And that he was not dead. Everyone had heard whispers of conspiracy - that Ozai murdered his own son, and Sokka couldn't put it past him, but there were other rumors as well. That the unknown prince had been taken to the outside and would one day return. Sokka really didn't know what to believe - perhaps Princess Azula of the Fire nation knew the truth, not that he'd ever go and ask though. But Sokka took it as a personal blow for Katara to insinuate those things of Zuko.

Sokka kicked his foot down onto the head of the shovel, plunging the makeshift tool into the snow and kicking the shovel out with ths same foot. "Gahh!" Sokka screamed out in frustration. "How the hell am I supposed to shovel the snow when it's snowing!" Indeed it was an impossible task. Every shovelful of snow taken out of the ground was near instantly replaced by the fast falling snow. He thought he was going to go mad. Right about now if he had any kind, sort, or semblence of Bending, he wished it was fire bending. That way he could just melt all the damn snow. Although sure, that would probably cause a flood, but right now Sokka wasn't thinking along those lines. He just wanted to do something else other than shovel snow.

Sokka thrust his shovel to the ground, making sure to step down on it with his full weight so it would press down into the snow and eventually be covered by even more falling snow. With that done, Sokka scouted the area, looking from left to right to make sure that no one was watching him, and with that assurance, he took off in a random direction. He figured anywhere was better than here in the snow with people who wouldn't listen and those who were too stuck in their ways to change.

Sokka left the encampment and made his way to a canoe that was left unattended. Getting into it, he oared as fast as physically possible. He didn't know when the fisher who most likely left his mode of transportation there would return, and he wasn't about to find out how much trouble he'd be in on top of everything else if he was caught.

He didn't even have an inkling as to where he was headed. Katara was usually the one who directed where they went. He was usually just the rower. But now that Katara was no longer on board - both figuratively and literally, he was alone in this. He'd just have to go wherever the wind took him. The only problem with that being that it wasn't windy at all. Sokka cursed.

Zuko stared absently at his hands, twirling them above his head in inspection. "Weird," he muttered. He let them fall to his side before pulling them back up quickly as if something would instantaneously change. Nothing happened. "Well whatever."

He shifted his legs to off his bed and sighed when his feet hit his carpeted floor. He didn't have anything to do today. No work, no chores, no nothing. Perhaps he could go "try to find Appa" - code for going to see Sokka. He felt a bit guilty about running off last time.

Zuko slipped on his sweater, regardless of the fact that it was sunny outside. He slipped into his shoes and locked the door behind him. Iroh was at his newly opened tea shop and would be there until closing hours which would be around four-thirty.

With his hands shoved unceremoniously in his pockets, Zuko made the trek to the forest-like area. When he got there he sat down on the bench, kicking around the dirt and gravel beneath his feet in boredom. He was pretty sure Sokka'd come. All he had to do was wait. And now he dearly wished patience was a virtue he actually had. "Where are you?" He muttered frustratedly. Was Sokka mad at him for his abrupt leave? If so, how in the world would he ever make amends? They didn't even live in the same 'world'.

Sokka threw one of his oars into the icy water in a mixture of equal parts anger and absolute frustration. "Dammit I recognize this iceberg. Am I going in freaking circles!" If he had no idea where ge was an hour and a half ago, he really had no idea where he was now. Being "lost" was the biggest understatement of his life. He'd been lost many times. Very few of those times had he been alone, and even fewer of those times had he not had the assurance that someone would eventually find and rescue him. Things were really starting to look dim and gray. Sokka sighed, staring down into the cold water below before it hit him like a concrete wall. He had thrown his oar. Overboard. "Damn," Sokka murmured, reaching out as far as he could to try and retrieve his oar which was slowly retreating with the current.

Sokka leaned forward more. "Just a bit further," he grunted. "Got it! Aghh!" With an undignified yelp, Sokka went overboard into the freezing waters below. He came up, spatting water out in an almost fountain-like fashion, his countenance completely unamused. "I really hate my life."

Zuko pulled out his cell phone for what was probably the hundredth time. He kept telling himself that it was pointless to just sit in the uncared for park, waiting on the off-chance that Sokka might just pop up. But everytime he went to get up, his mind plagued him with a barrage if 'what-ifs'. What if he had an errand? What if he was on his way? The cycle seemed to almost endlessly repeat itself, leaving Zuko none the closer to a decision on whether or not he wanted go return home.

He sighed resolutely. He wasn't going to go home just yet.

"Ahhh..." Sokka sighed exasperatedly. His canoe had finally hit land. Sweet, sweet earth. Matter of fact it looked like he had landed somewhere in Earth nation territory. After he had exited his canoe, he had realized it would take far too much effort to tie up and have it kept safe. He just left it there, watching as a villager pulled it ashore looking as if they'd just struck gold. Sokka smiled - well there went his way home, but it wasn't like he remembered the way anyways.

"Twinkle-toes!" Sokka nearly jumped in surprise as he he turned to see Toph, his earth bender friend who still hadn't looked like she'd either gone soft or become any more feminine.

"Toph?" He paused, trying to think of something to ask her, "Uh... What're you doing here?"

"I live here," she proclaimed, crossing her arms across her chest, "that's the question I should be asking you. Where's Katara? Aang?"

"Uh, you see..." Sokka pressed his two index fingers together repeatedly, trying to decide how much he was going to tell her, if he told her any of the truth at all.

"Don't lie to me," Toph said in warning, her foot pressing hard into the ground.

"Okay, okay!" Sokka put both hands up in defeat, knowing that the blind girl would 'see' the motion through her earth bending. "Well, err, neither of them are here. I'm here by myself."

"So that's the start, now where's the rest of what happened?" Toph asked impatiently. Her bare foot was now tapping on the ground.

"Well Aang's off training and being the Avatar and stuff - ya' know, he's gotta' stop the Fire lord from taking over the world," Toph rolled her eyes at Sokka's half hearted attempt at humor but she let him continue. "And Katara, well, she's kinda' mad at me..."

"And why would she be mad at you?"

"I guess I kinda' may have gone to the outside and uhm, may've talked to someone there...?" Sokka said it all like a question.

"So?" Toph asked like it wasn't a big deal at all.

Sokka smiled. This was why, despite everything else, he really got along with Toph. The girl was as loose as he was with rules and she rarely ever completely agreed with Katara, so that was a bonus as well. "Yeah." He replied, not knowing what else to say.

"Yep," Toph said back, a big grin on her face. She put both of her arms behind her head and turned around, starting to walk off. She turned around when she sense that Sokka was simply staring at her dumbfoundedly rather than following. "Are you coming or not?"

"Y-yeah." Toph continued walking when she felt Sokka following behind her. "Actually..."

"Out with it," she said, but she wasn't angry or annoyed. Rather she was amused.

"Could you lead me to the Earth Spirit Shrine?"

Toph chuckled lightly. "You never do learn, do you Twinkle-toes? I guess I can, it is on my way. But how're you going to pass through safely? I mean we already established that Katara's not here and I have some things I need to take care of."

"Spirit crystals," Sokka confidently replied, reaching into his pocket.

After a while of silence, Toph asked what was going on. She could hear his heavy breath and the increase of his heart rate. Sokka turned his pockets inside out and gaped. "They're not in here," he said, his rising panic evident in the shaking of his voice. He was sure they were in there. He knew that was where he put them. But then again, Gran Gran had pulled him ibto an awkward hug after their little "chat". "That old sneak," he muttered with a measure of anger and frustration.

"Sheesh, calm down." Toph turned back around and shifted her arms back to behind her head from her hip, where she'd placed them. "I know an old man with a monkey who sells those things, no prob'."

"You mean-"

"Yeah," she interrupted.

"Awhh, man," Sokka huffed.

"Would you quit complainin' for five seconds princess?" Toph continued walking and Sokka followed, holding back another complaint to save face.

It started raining, a slow drizzel that soon turned into quick falling drops, and Zuko stood up off the bench. His bottom was sore from sitting so long and his curiosity had slowly but surely been replacing his disappointment. What was back there beyond the forest? That was the question that he'd found himself asking over and over again, with no sure-fire answer. He had never thought of himself as overly inquisitive, he believed in the proverb that curiosity killed the cat - to some extent of course.

But that was where he'd seen Sokka retreating to. Was that the way to the village nations? There was only one way to find out for sure.

For some strange reason, the farther he walked, the less rain was present. But when he turned around, it was still raining just as hard as it had been behind him. He decided that something strange was definitely going on. When Zuko had walked even further away, all that he could see in the distance that he came from was trees. He couldn't tell if it was still raining or not but where he was he didn't feel any rain. He continued walking until he reached the end of the path. There was a large pond with a black and a white koi, both swimming happily next to each other and a tall limestone looking fixture that was adorned with red, blue, green, and brown crystals. There were words inscribed all over it, and Zuko read it aloud. "Water must dance from the nearest source of balance," he looked down, continuing to read, "wind must fall into place, fire must erupt and fill the moon, earth must shift out of place," he circled around to finish reading, "and my doors will open."

Down below there was an inscription that read 'without balance I require a key.' There was other writing, but it looked as if it had partially worn away. Zuko read what he could make out, "Only pure of heart..."

"Hmm," Zuko thoughtfully scratched his chin. "This makes no sense! I hate riddles!"

There was a ring of keys on the hook that gracefully curved from the limestone fixture. A single, intricately designed golden key hung from it. Zuko reached out to touch it.

"Aghh!"

"Twinkle-toes, stop playing around with that monkey and lets get goin'."

"I'm not playing, this monkey's got my hair - oww owww, let go," Sokka yelled as he desperately tried to detach himself.

"I think he just recognizes his fellow kin," Toph said with a laugh.

"Hey..." Sokka said with a frown, feeling outrightly insulted.

Toph let out a loud whistle and the monkey stood stark still before jumping off Sokka and scampering back to its owner, the old man. "Well, see 'ya around." With that, Toph walked towards the way to the city.

Sokka stood in front of the shrine and squeezed the spirit crystal in his hands. Taking a deep breath, he approached and reached out to open the door. As if on cue, the door he reached for glowed a pale blue and easily opened when he pulled. When he stepped in, the door loudly closed behind him and the darkness of the inner shrine glowed that same pale blue. Then it felt like he was shaken up then down then rolled around and his world spun, all the while the spirit crystal in his hand slowly started to fade.

After the crystal had faded completely, they somewhat bright darkness instantly shifted to a bright outside and Sokka felt as if his feet were no longer on a steady surface. In fact it felt like he was on air. And he wasn't floating. He was falling.

"Aghhhh!" Sokka closed his eyes as the ground neared. He was flapping his arms and legs, hoping against all hope that doing so would actually help.

But instead of crash landing, he landed on something that broke his fall. And good thing too. That damn limestone pillar's key hook was inches away from an area that he'd of rather kept fully intact.

"Mhmphm."

"Hm?" Sokka looked down to see the saving grace object that had cushioned his fall. Only it wasn't an object. It was Zuko. He quickly jumped off and began a series of apologies.

"I'm fine," Zuko grunted, popping his back, "oww, ow."

"Here let me," instead of taking a look, like Zuko thought Sokka would, Sokka hoisted Zuko onto his back and slipped his legs around his wait. "I can carry you. Where do you live?"

"Uh, a-after we exit the forest it's a straight shot." Zuko's heart was beating incredibly fast and he didn't know why he wasn't posing any objections to letting Sokka carry him piggy-back style.

Sokka didn't know why he offered. Stupid chivalry. It wasn't like Zuko was fat, not at all, but he was a healthy weight, add in their likeness in height - with Sokka only an inch and a half taller, and the whole piggy-back ordeal was made harder. Not to mention that spirit crystal he'd gotten from the old vendor was of such crappy quality. At least it was free, which was probably why the landing hadn't been smooth sailing. Good quality spirit crystals weren't supposed to almost make you meet your Maker.

Zuko put his arms around Sokka's neck but made sure to keep his grip loose so as not to choke him. It was going to be a slow-moving journey back home.

"Thanks for the crystal, old man," Toph said with a sincere smile.

"Your welcome. I couldn't charge you for those two crystals if I wanted to, your my best patron."

"Wait. Two? What do you mean?" The old man had already begun packing his wares up so he could return to his shop for the day, and hadn't heard the question addressed to him. Toph put her hand in her pocket and felt the second crystal. "Shoot! I knew I was forgetting something!" With Toph in possession of the second spirit crystal and Sokka unable to bend, Sokka had no way to return from the outside world. 'This could be trouble,' she thought.

Meanwhile Katara searched the entire village for Sokka, who was nowhere in sight. It'd been almost five hours and the sun, though not setting quite yet, wasn't quite as high in the sky as it had been when she had last seen him. Not paying attention, she bumped into an older villageman who looked like he was practically chasing hus own hindquarters in frustration. "Sorry."

"It's fine Katara. Listen, have you seen my canoe? The one I use for fishing. I can't find it anywhere!"

"...No, I'm sorry, I haven't." Katara didn't like the sound of what she was hearing one bit. If things were adding up correctly, there was a missing canoe and a missing older brother - Sokka. She didn't even have to put two and two together to get the solution to that one. Crap. She knew she shouldn't have left him alone. With her thoughts racing, she ran to Gran Gran's tent, hoping desperately that the elder woman would have the answers sought.

Kanna watched as her grandaughter Katara rushed in, out of breath, into her tent.

"Gran Gran! It's-" she panted, trying to catch her breath, "Sokka! I can't find him anywhere! He's not in the village. No one's seen him since earlier. I don't know what-"

"Hush, hush child." Kanna smiled as she reached into her own pocket and pulled out four spirit crystals. "I took these from his poket. He won't be traveling anywhere too far away."

Katara smiled and breathed a deep sigh of relief as the news washed over her. "Wait...did Sokka go through the gate without a crystal?"

"Nonsense. He knows that his physical body would die and he would be trapped in the Spirit world." She laughed, but as the reality of the situation dawned on her, her face soon turned grave. "Doesn't he?"

Katara stared back at Gran Gran. Sokka had never really focused or put any effort into paying attention to lectures about transporting between their world and the outside world. What if-?

Sokka scratched the back of his neck, not knowing how to approach the subject. He decided to go with being outrightly blunt about it. "Can I stay with you for a little while?" After all, Toph had only given him one spirit crystal and he wasn't about to test his chances with Lady Luck anytime too soon. Doing so would be a fool's errand. Sure, he'd never listened to any of the elders' entire tangent on the rules governing travel between the two worlds, but he got the gist of it. If you don't have a spirit crystal, or you can't Bend, you can't enter the shrine to return or to go to the outside world. If you do, you'll die. Yep, it was pretty simple - there was no need for the lengthy lectures his elders were so fond of giving. Sokka just assumed they liked hearing themselves talk. Which probably wasn't too far off from the truth.

"Y-yeah." Zuko said. He didn't think his uncle would mind too much - he'd be another person to serve tea to after all.

When Zuko went to unlock the door, the door opened for him. Iroh stared worriedly at him. "Zuko, you did not tell me you were going out. I called you so many times."

"Sorry Uncle." Zuko looked down a bit guiltily. "This is Sokka," he said when Iroh's eyes scanned over the blue eyed boy.

"Ah, I see," Iroh laughed heartily, "well, come in you two." Iroh watched Sokka carefully as he recognized his garb as being that of a water bender's. He relaxed though when he noticed the carefree nature of the boy and how comfortable Zuko seemed around him. But that didn't mean he trusted him alone in Zuko's room with the door closed. But Zuko was old enough to make his own decisions so Iroh went to his own room with that thought in mind.

"Thanks," Sokka said. They were both laying on Zuko's bed, facing each other.

"No problem," Zuko could feel himself blush from their closeness.

"Your room is so huge," Sokka said in wonder, eyes wandering to every space possible.

"Not really," Zuko countered.

"Well compared to mine it is." And it was. It was almost a paradise compared to Sokka's left half of the tent that he'd shared with Katara for most of his life.

"Well, what's it like? Where you live I mean..."

Sokka scrunched up his face in earnest. "Hmm well it's not all the same. Places kinda' differ, 'ya know, like out here." Zuko nodded his head for him to continue. "The Water nation is divided up between north and south. South - that's where I come from, is kinda' rural compared to the north. We have tents and we fish, but besides that there's not much else. Katara's the only water bender there too. Then there's the north, where all the royal Water nation family resides. There's so many benders there, and it's beautiful. I've heard it's like an ice fortress. Next there's the Earth Kingdom-"

"Wait, why is it called a kingdom?"

"I dunno', it just is - okay? Let me finish. Okay. Uhm, the Earth Kingdom has, like the,name suggests, earth benders. The inner city is a great place for trade and commerce but yeah, I really can't say I'm all too fond of it."

"And what about the Fire Nation?" Zuko asked, his excitement spilling over.

Sokka gave a nervous smile and scratched the back of his neck. "I've never actually been. The Fire nation is pretty exclusive, only fire benders and Fire nation citizens are allowed in, and even then with so much military unrest with Lord Ozai - that's their leader by the way, no one's just coming and going as they please." Well, that wasn't entirely true. Lord Ozai's daughter, Princess Azula, tended to come and go as she wished unquestioningly. But that little clause wasn't important. Sokka doubted Zuko even knew who Azula was.

Zuko nodded, carefully absorbing all the information about the Fire nation that he was given. It could come in handy later on down the line. "Do you think I could ever visit?"

"Well that's kind of impossible at the moment. You see, the only way there is through the Spirit Shrine and to safely pass you'd either need to be a bender, be with a bender, or have either a spirit stone or spirit crystal. Of course spirit stones are rare beyond belief."

"And how would a fire bender fire bend?"

"Well, actually-"

"Hey, boys." Iroh interrupted, flinging open the door with a tray of snacks and piping hot tea balanced on one arm like an experienced waiter. "I brought you two a little something."

The timing was a little too perfect, but with Iroh in the room, all talk of Fire bending immediately ceased. Zuko raised an eyebrow and directed it at his uncle, whom he knew saw the gesture. Iroh just shrugged then smiled, exiting the door shortly after but purposely leaving the door wide open behind him.

Sokka took it a different way. "Does your dad not trust me? He whispered. "I promise no funny business," Sokka added, holding both palms up in his defense.

Zuko blushed.

"So, uh, Katara...?" Aang waited patiently for a reply but the water bender was just nervously pacing around in a repetative pattern. "Katara?" He tried again. "I'm sure Sokka's all right. He-"

"And how would you know that!" Katara snapped, instantly feeling guilty once the poison laced words left her lips. "I'm sorry...it's just- I have to find him. Make sure he's okay. If anything happened to him, it'd be all my fault."

Aang decided to go against his character and hold back what he was about to say. He was going to tell her that it wasn't her fault. But the look on her face told him that sentiment wouldn't help any. "Hey, how about we get Appa and go look around. Maybe even Toph knows something." Aang attempted a smile but Katara's worry repelled its intentioned effect.

"Toph? Aang, you do know that Toph returned to the Earth Kingdom. There's no way he'd ever have gone all the way there. Sure, last I saw him was this morning, but that's really far. There's no way Sokka would have gotten there by himself."

"Really? Why not?"

"Well for one, he's directionally challenged - I swear he's the epitome of a man who can't ask for directions. And two, the only way there besides Appa would be by canoe. I just can't picture Sokka doing all that rowing."

"Well it's an option," Aang offered.

"Not a very likely one." Katara sighed.

Toph paced back and forth in front of the Spirit Shrine, finally coming to the conclusion that she'd go and find Sokka, and give him the other spirit crystal. Now the only problem was opening the gate. She felt around until she found the hole in which she had to bend a piece of earth into. The first try she bended a piece that was too big. The second, a piece that too small.

She continued to try though, still achieving varying lengths of not-quite the right sizes. "Dammit," she cursed, stomping her foot down harshly into the ground in irritation, causing the ground to shake. It was times like these that being blind frustrated her. She couldn't see, that much was blantantly obvious, but now she had no way of knowing how big to bend the earth to fit into the limestone pillar's slot, thus opening the shrine door. And it was hard as heck to measure the size with just touch and feel. "This sucks!" She whined. "Just when I decide to do something nice," she growled and kicked the ground, sending another tremor through it.

* * *

A/N:: A review would be much appreciated, remember - it's a writer's lifeblood, but I'm sure you probably already knew that. And I'll see you next time!


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